Kwale teachers: Donate underwear for schoolboys as girls get sanitary towels
Pupils at Kombani Primary School in Matuga, Kwale County sit after receiving sanitary towels from Kwale Youth Communication Group, a community based organization. Teachers in the school have pleaded to charitable organizations to donate underwear for boys as many are too poor to afford.
Primary school teachers in Kwale County have appealed to well-wishers and charitable organisations to support schoolboys with underwear, claiming the latter had been “neglected”.
The teachers said a majority of boys come from poor families and only wear trousers while girls keep getting donations.
“As girls are provided with sanitary towels, we have never had any organisation that has given this essential wear to the boys,” said Robert Thuku, a senior teacher at Kombani Primary School.
He said that just as girls are given sanitary towels and underwear, helping them stay in school, many charitable organisations were forgetting that boys are also in need of underwear as it was important for their hygiene.
“But when you ask a boy to remove his trousers, he usually has nothing else on. It is like they have been neglected,” Mr Thuku said.
“We would like more well-wishers, especially in these areas with high levels of poverty, to support the schoolchildren with these essential items to improve their education.”
He was speaking during a session at the school where Kwale Youth Communication Group, a community-based organization, distributed sanitary towels to standards Class Seven and Eight girls.
Salim Chitsao, the group’s community civic education officer, said the donation was important as many families had been affected by the pandemic and could barely access basic sanitary needs.
“We understand this is during a pandemic and many of the parents are affected economically and might not be able to afford to buy sanitary towels for the girls,” he said.
He added that other selected schools in Mackinnon, Lungalunga, Shimba Hills and Msambweni will get donations.
He said that the group is targeting at least 250 students in every school to be supplied with face masks and sanitary towels for the girls.
Ali Muyanga, another member of the group, said the donations will also help curb teen pregnancies. He explained that many girls were supported by bodaboda riders to buy sanitary towels as their parents were unable to provide them. The girls end up giving sexual favours to the men in exchange for money.
The school’s health teacher, Mwanaharusi Ali, said the majority of girls still skip school for lack of sanitary towels.
“Many parents cannot afford sanitary towels so we just wait for the government and organisations to donate to the school so that we can give them to the girls,” she said.
“Without that, girls stay home when they are on their monthly period.”
Teachers pleaded for more organisations to support boys with counselling as a number of them lacked life skills. This has made them engage in drug abuse and drop out of school.
